A 12-person Group of Experts headed by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright yesterday presented their analysis and recommendationsto Alliance ambassadors. Appointed by Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to lay the groundwork for the development of a new strategic doctrine for NATO, the Expert Group report describes the Alliance as “as an essential source of stability in an uncertain and unpredictable World”. Over the next decade the Experts expect NATO to be “tested by the emergence of new dangers, the many-sided demands of complex operations, and the challenge of organising itself efficiently in an era where rapid responses are vital, versatility critical, and resources tight”.

NATO is currently drawing up a new Strategic Concept (which was last updated in 1999) designed to make it more flexible and better able to deal with modern threats such as terrorism, cyber warfare and piracy. NATO leaders are set to finalise the doctrine at a November summit in Lisbon. During a press conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels to launch the Expert Group report, Rasmussen described the Strategic Concept review process as the “most transparent and inclusive in NATO’s history”.

Dr Ian Davis, director of NATO Watch said, “The publication of the Expert Group report and the extensive consultation that preceded it is a welcome boost to transparency and an important contribution to the ongoing debate about the future of NATO”. He added, “NATO urgently needs a new script infused by the language of reason and morality that can resonate across a multi-polar world. But this document for all its qualities doesn’t quite cut the mustard”.